The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 4 eBook

ten years. After the exhaustion of his demerit
by such sufferings he regains the status of humanity.
By stealing milk, one becomes a crane. That man,
O king, who through stupefaction of the understanding,
steals oil, has to take birth, after casting off this
body, as an animal that subsists upon oil as his form.[516]
That wretch who himself well armed, slays another
while that other is unarmed, from motives of obtaining
his victim’s wealth or from feelings of hostility,
has, after casting off his human body, to take birth
as an ass. Assuming that asinine form he has to
live for a period of two years and then he meets with
death at the edge of a weapon. Casting off in
this way his asinine body he has to take birth in
his next life as a deer always filled with anxiety
(at the thought of foes that may kill him). Upon
the expiration of a year from the time of his birth
as a deer, he has to yield up his life at the point
of a weapon. Thus casting off his form of a deer,
he next takes birth as a fish and dies in consequence
of being dragged up in net, on the expiration of the
fourth month. He has next to take birth as a beast
of prey. For ten years he has to live in that
form, and then he takes birth as a pard in which form
he has to live for a period of five years. Impelled
by the change that is brought about by time, he then
casts off that form, and his demerit having been exhausted
he regains the status of humanity. That man of
little understanding who kills a woman has to go the
regions of Yama and to endure diverse kinds of pain
and misery. He then has to pass through full
one and twenty transformations. After that, O
monarch, he has to take birth as a vile vermin.
Living as a vermin for twenty years, he regains the
status of humanity. By stealing food, one has
to take birth as a bee. Living for many months
in the company of other bees, his demerit becomes
exhausted and he regains the status of humanity.
By stealing paddy, one becomes a cat. That man
who steals food mixed with sesame cakes has in his
next birth to assume the form of a mouse large or
small according to the largeness or smallness of the
quantity stolen. He bites human beings every day
and as the consequence thereof becomes sinful and
travels through a varied round of rebirths. That
man of foolish understanding who steals ghee has to
take birth as a gallinule. That wicked person
who steals fish has to take birth as a crow.
By stealing salt one has to take birth as a mimicking
bird. That man who misappropriates what is deposited
with him through confidence, has to sustain a diminution
in the period of his life, and after death has to
take birth among fishes. Having lived for some
time as a fish he dies and regains the human form.
Regaining, however, the status of humanity, he becomes
short-lived. Indeed, having committed sins, O
Bharata, one has to take birth in an order intermediate
between that of humanity and vegetables. Those
people are entirely unacquainted with righteousness